RHETT & LINK: COMMERCIAL KINGS (www.ifc.com/rhett-link) chronicles the quest of life-long best friends Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal as they travel the country making epic local commercials for some of the nation’s most deserving local businesses. Premiering Friday, June 24 at 10:00pm ET/PT on IFC, this ten-part reality series is based on the successful web series I Love Local Commercials and features Rhett & Link helping local businesses achieve their goals by creating eye-catching local commercials using local talent.
YouTube superstars with more than 90 million combined video views, Rhett & Link will now bring their well-honed, web-tested skills to a national television audience. In each episode, they will experience the businesses first hand to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by each owner. This hands-on experience combined with their own special brand of market research provide the creative fuel needed to draft an attention-grabbing, out-of-the-box concept for each local commercial. The pair then cast, direct and shoot each commercial by strategically tapping into existing local talent and resources.
“We started producing local commercials because we felt a kinship with these homegrown businesses that make local communities unique,” said Rhett McLaughlin.
“In a world of huge retailers and chains, these smaller businesses don’t have the flashy marketing budgets or access to the resources to draw attention to themselves through advertising,” added Link Neal.
Businesses featured in the first episode include Holiday Hotel for Cats, a cat hotel aiming to give cats a nurturing place to stay when their owners are away and Super Shmuttle, a door-to-door doggie taxi and daycare. Other businesses featured this season include Make Me a Pro Wrestler, a training facility that wants to expand on its promise to groom the next crop of great professional wrestlers; Da’Spot Hair Salon, a predominantly African American salon looking to diversify its clientele; Fountain of Health, a health and wellness spa promoting the benefits of routine colon care; and Bury Me Naturally, a company bringing the benefits of eco-friendly burials to the masses.
During the premiere of each episode Rhett and Link will be tweeting live with fans. Following each premiere episode an encore of the previous week’s episode will air. Rhett & Link will be streaming live at IFC.com and interacting with fans during the encore episode premiere every Friday from 10:30-11:00pm ET.
Rhett & Link have a collection of more than 200 independently produced web videos including Facebook Song, about the joys of being socially awkward and living entirely through Facebook (8.8 million YouTube views), T-Shirt War, a stop-motion animation music video (6.5 million YouTube views), and Fast Food Folk Song, in which the guys place their fast food drive through order entirely through a folk song (4.8 million YouTube views.) In total, their collection of videos have been viewed more than 90 million times (www.youtube.com/rhettandlink.)
Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings is executive produced by Howard T. Owens, Todd Cohen, Heather Schuster, Rhett McLaughlin, Link Neal, Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina for Reveille. Debbie DeMontreux, Christine Lubrano and Jennifer Caserta serve as executive producers for IFC.
About IFC
IFC creates and champions authentic, original content that is “Always On. Slightly Off.” Since 1994, IFC has cultivated television programming that challenges the conventions of storytelling. Today, IFC continues to embrace content with an indie perspective. Original series – headlined by brand-defining scripted and sketch comedy – air alongside an extraordinary collection of films and cult TV shows. Long and short-form original content inspired by music, web, gaming, animation, news, and culture is available on multiple platforms. IFC provides viewers access to must-see festivals and events around the country, like the Film Independent’s Spirit Awards and SXSW. IFC.com features exclusive video, podcasts, blogs, news and reviews cultivated and written by industry experts. The network’s On Demand offering, IFC Free, gives fans the opportunity to watch select content from IFC whenever they want. IFC is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc.
About AMC Networks
Dedicated to producing quality programming and movie content for more than 30 years, AMC Networks Inc. owns and operates several of the most popular and award-winning brands in cable television. AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel, WE tv, and IFC Films produce and deliver distinctive, compelling and culturally relevant content that engages audiences across multiple platforms. The company also operates AMC/Sundance Channel Global, an international programming business, and AMC Networks Broadcasting & Technology, a full-service network programming feed origination and distribution company.
About Reveille LLC
Reveille is part of the Shine Group, one of the world’s foremost multinational entertainment and drama companies. A leading independent studio focused on exploiting worldwide intellectual property rights in scripted and unscripted television and digital entertainment, Reveille is also a world leader in creating integrated marketing opportunities for advertisers. Reveille is known for popular and award-winning hit series including MASTERCHEF, THE BIGGEST LOSER, ONE BORN EVERY MINUTE, THE OFFICE, THE BURIED LIFE, UGLY BETTY, THE TUDORS, TABATHA’S SALON TAKEOVER, SHEAR GENIUS and PARENTAL CONTROL. Reveille has partnerships with both Microsoft and Yahoo! to develop original online series for brands. Web series include FIT TO BOOM for Subway, IT’S EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS WITH JACK AND SUZY WELCH for Microsoft, WHO KNEW? for Toyota and REAL LIFE MAKEOVER for Walmart. Through its distribution arm, Shine International, Reveille distributes its extensive library of programming to more than 150 countries.
